When the Clock Strikes
by Keither Serenity
Summary: ON HOLD.DMHG. A legendary clock that can destroy the world. The Ministry sends the most unlikely couple to find it first.What happens in Love and War?
1. Default Chapter

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own any characters related to Harry Potter, just the plot and any OC's I might throw in.

**Chapter 1**

Mr. Buttons walked into Hermione's office and threw some documents on her desk. She picked them up and looked over them."What are these suppose to be?"

"They are your new duty. I'm taking you off of the Gregor case and putting you in charge of this."

"What! You can't! I've been on that case for six months now and I've just had a breakthrough, don't do this to me!" She whined at her boss. Not exactly professional of her but she had worked hard on her case.

"Sorry I have to, your my best researcher and this takes priorty over everything" He opened his briefcase and took out an old looking piece of parchment handing it to her.

She studied it for a moment,"A map? What's does it lead to?"

"The Doomsday Clock."He said taking a seat.

She looked at him in surprise,"That's an old legendary artifact, are you trying to tell me you think its real?"

He shook his head,"I in fact do, and so do the senior ministers."

She stood up and paced behind her desk."So your telling me that the great God of War, Mars himself, made a map of his creation and just happened to give it to a mortal to hold on to it?"

He nodded,"That's the short version."

She stopped pacing and sat down herself,"And what is the long version pray tell?"

He relayed what the senior ministers had told him earlier,"It is said that after Mars made the 'Clock of Destruction', or the 'Doomsday Clock', he had to keep it from the rest of the gods. He put some kind of magic cloak around it to hide it from getting into the wrong hands. He then made a map of its whereabouts. He had made friends with a great mortal warrior and bestowed his trust upon him to keep the secret. He told him he would come get it when the clock beckoned him back."

Hermione interrupted," Why did he make a map to it? Couldn't he just remember where he put it?"

"I was getting to that part,"He said, clearly annoyed by her interuption,"He wanted to make sure that if he was succeeded in his position that the information could not be gotten from him. So he used a memory charm and wiped his memory clean of the whole event. The spell he used on the clock would awaken his memory when it was time."

"So for thousands of years they handed down this map? How did it come to be in our ownership?"She asked.

"The last of the McLowry line died four months ago and the secret chamber under the house was just found yesterday. The researchers that found it are now in the hospital recovering from sort of safety charm that was on the chest they found it in. So now it is in the hands of the Ministry of Mystery until further notice."

"Now what does all this have to do with me?"She wanted to get to the bottom of things.

"Your my best researcher! I need you to go in there and find that thing before some Deatheater does!"He said flustered.

"You want me to go into a vast rainforest in South America and find some clock that might not even be real? I'm sorry sir but ...ARE YOU INSANE!"She yelled at him.

"Ms. I suggest you get ahold of yourself and just realize who your talking to like that! I am your superior!"He said in a huff."It's not like I would send you alone. Your going to have an Auror to back you up in case of trouble. Plus I'm only giving you two months to accomplish things before letting this go dead in the water."

Hermione hearing mention of an Auror,"Who is this Auror that will be attending this little expedition?"

"He's outside, just a moment." He pressed the button on her intercom,"Charolette you can send him in now."

AUTHOR's NOTE: I will respond to reviews on the review page. Check back after a few days of posting your review and I will answer it if it was constructive.


	2. 2

**Chapter 2**

"Granger!"

"Malfoy!"

They both sneared at each other."Ah, that's right I believe you both know each other so no introductions needed." Mr. Buttons said taking a step back, he could feel the friction in the air.

They both turned to him and said in unison,"I want a reassignment!" Realizing what they just did they glared at each other. Mr.Buttons brought out his wand,"Jinx!"

They both were opening their mouths to protest more about the arrangement and shut them so quickly he could almost hear their teeth click. The jinx curse was totally childish but Mr. Buttons didn't want to hear their nonsense.

"Now you to behave yourselves like good children, try not to kill each other. You need to cooperate to stay alive in that vast forest. Keep your eyes open." With that said he left the room.

Hermione, not wanting to be the first to speak and get the wrath of the Jinx, she picked up the legal pad from her desk and began scribbling. Draco, curious, walked closer just as she lifted it up for him to read. His eyes scanned down the page and he nodded. She held her hand in the air and counted with her fingers. 1...2...3...

"I HATE YOU!" They said together breaking the Jinx curse.

Then again in unison."THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!...MY FAULT! They glared at each other and stood quietly saying no more. Hermione breaking the silence,"How is this my fault Malfoy? I didn't ask to have a loathesome bleached ferret on an assignment with me!" She smiled at her insult.

"Why you little filthy Mudblood!"He shot back."If you weren't such a Miss Know-it-All, busy body, you wouldn't have gotten this job and then I would have never been called to escort you through some flaming muggle forest!"

"Do you think I got to choose who came with me? NO! Do you think I like this? NO! Would I much rather have another come along for the ride? Merlin YES!"She started pacing behind her desk again talking to herself."Why couldn't they have sent Harry? or Cho? or even Neville? I would have even felt safer with him than I do with him! I can't trust a low life like a Malfoy!"

"Hey I'm standing right here Granger you filthy nit!" He was almost about to jump over the desk and hit a girl for the first time in his life."Don't you dare bad mouth my family's name!" He raised his face shaking it at her.

"Then answer my questions. Why in the bloody hell did they send YOU?" She stopped pacing and slammed her hands down on her desk as she yelled.

"Well for starters, your precious little Potty is in America doing undercover work for their ministry and even though I know they would never assign Longbottom such a dangerous task, he wouldn't have come. His little miss is having her kittens soon and he wouldn't miss it for the world!"Disgusted at the thought of little Neville's running around making messes of things.

Hermione smiled, she had almost forgotten that Neville's twins were going to be born soon. She looked down at her desk calendar turning to the next month. She had circled Rachell's due date in red. She would have to remember to send them a gift. She had been so busy with work that she had missed the baby shower.

"What in the bleeding hell are you smiling at?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and back to Malfoy hell."Thinking about being in the middle of nowhere with an untrustworthy maggot like you for two months." She said to him calmly.

"Yeah well as least its in the middle of nowhere and no one will see you with me. I don't think I could stand the embarressment of being associated with a nasty Mudblood like yourself."He said smuggly.

"Yes and at least in the middle of nowhere I could kill you, hide your body, and no one would ever be able to find you!"She cocked her head to the side thinking,"That is if anyone actually cared about you to look."She smiled as she saw his face contort in anger.

He counted to ten in his head. He wouldn't let her get the best of him."You know Granger you could always quit your job now and save us all the trouble of this stupid quest."

"Not on your life Malfoy!"

"Hmph...It was worth a try." He sat in a chair scanning the room. Books and papers were strewn about the shelves and floor. He picked a book off the floor, ' Mysterious Artifacts and Documents', he threw the book back on the floor."Ever thought about hiring a maid Granger?"

She looked around the room,"What? This isn't that messy its rather cleaner than usual." She stacked some books and papers together and then went back to staring at the map.

He coughed in disbelief,"If this is what you call clean then I'd hate to see your living quarters!"

"Well as a matter of fact you will be doing just that so follow me." She grabbed a bag and threw the map and a few other belongings in it and strode through the door.

He grimaced and stood up to follow her. He followed her down the hall to an empty fireplace. She got into the middle of it grabbing some floo powder on the way and threw it to her feet while saying her destination.

"Victoria Heights!" With that she disappeared.


	3. 3

**Chapter 3**

Draco had followed suit taking the floo route to Victoria Heights. A minute later he found himself standing in what looked to be a fancy mansion. Then he looked around and saw a desk with what looked like servants behind it.'This must be some sort of muggle Inn.'He thought looking around at the high ceiling and the people buzzing around with luggage.

Hermione noticed him looking around in confusion,"It's what we muggles call a 'Hotel', I live here in an apartment upstairs."Hermione walked toward two large closed doors. Well they looked like doors but had no handles. She reached out and pushed a button beside it on the wall. The doors opened and Draco watched her enter a small boxed area.

"Are you coming Malfoy?"He realized that this must be some muggle transport device and stepped in next to her. A panel of many buttons was on his right. Hermione stepped over and pushed the number eighteen. The doors closed and the box started to move. He latched on to the railing surprised at the sudden jostle.

Draco noticed Hermione looking up at a small device near the top of the doors. It was counting up. When it reached eighteen the doors magically opened and it revealed a long hallway of doors. They stepped out and walked almost to the very end when Hermione took something square out of her bag.It was some sort of card.

Draco stared at it intently. He waited for something to happen. She stuck the card into a metal device on the door and pulled the handle down. He found it very interesting as he examined it before entering further into the room.

"This is my apartment. You can have a seat in the living room over there," she pointed to a room filled with two couches and a chair. She started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" He didn't want to be left alone in this muggle place.

"Just to my room to change, business atire isn't exactly appropriate for where were going." And with that she went through another door which must have been her bedroom. Malfoy walked around and stared at all the strange objects about the room. The paintings didn't move and neither did most of the pictures. A few that did were of her,Potter and Weasel. He sneared at them and moved on.

He heard a thump come from her room and moved closer to the door. She hadn't closed it all the way and he could see inside. She was busy dragging something across the room he didn't recognize, it looked heavy though. He was about to suggest he help her when she lost interest in the thing and stood in front of a dresser pulling clothes from it.

He watched as she took off her jacket and then her blouse. The sight of her bareback made his breath catch. She slipped her wool skirt off and kicked it to the side. She was wearing black lacy under garments that were practically seethrough. This intrigued him. Little Ms. Granger the goody goody had some bad girl panties. Maybe she wasn't so innocent after all he thought.

She was about finished redressing and he jumped away from the door not wanting her to catch him in the act of watching her. He walked toward another wall and pretended to study the pictures on it.

She emerged a few minutes later wearing some blue jeans and a pink t-shirt with the word 'princess' on it. He laughed," Princess? You've got to be kidding me." She glared at him."It's only a shirt Malfoy."

She looked at her watch,"Well we have time to go collect your things so lets go."

"My things?"

"Yes,your things, you know clothes and such. We will be gone for a couple of months you know."

"I didn't put anything together, I was called to the ministry without being told what was in store for me so I don't have a bag ready."

She sighed,"Well you probably don't own anything proper for this trip anyways. We'll have to go shopping I guess. Do you have a money with you?"

He retrieved a small pouch from his pocket." I have about 500 galleons here. I think that should be enough.

She coughed, she would never carry that much money around with her! "That would be if we were in the wizarding world but were in 'muggleland' now. I had meant paper money, muggle money. I should have known there was no point asking you about it of course you wouldn't have something like that."

"Oh well, I'll just have to lend you some and you can pay me back later. Come on let's go then." She picked a jacket off the coat rack by the door and went to stand in the hall waiting for him.

They went back down the 'elevator' as she called it. They walked out the front doors of the hotel and Draco was blasted by a wave of heat. Muggle cars were racing past him on the road. Hermione had started walking to his right and he ran to keep up as she started to get lost in a crowd.

She stopped in front of a large brick building. The sign on the front said 'The Gap'. He knew it! She was really leading him to his death so she wouldn't have to deal with him. Well he wasn't going to go easily. She stepped through the revolving doors and as he followed he readied his wand.

Just as he got to the other side he realized he wouldn't need it and set it back in his pocket. He had been mistaken about the threat of death. What lay before him was no never ending chasm but rows and rows of muggle clothing. Hermione was talking to a sales person as he walked up.

The sales person looked him up and down and nodded. He grabbed a few things here and there from the racks around him and then ushered Malfoy into a small room with a curtain for a door. He tried on the different clothing and was even made to come out and model it for them. Feeling totally embarassed and vulnerable they looked him over and Hermione handed the man a small card."We'll take all of it."

"Excellent," the sales person said and walked behind a counter and started putting his new clothes in bags. He had gotten three pairs of 'jeans', five 't-shirts', one 'raincoat' and a pair of sturdy work boots. He looked at himself in a mirror. The person staring back at him didn't look like a Malfoy at all. The man standing there had loose fitting jeans on and a black t-shirt that stretched across his well formed chest.

He felt surprisingly comfortable in the strange clothing. It was nothing like the suits he was use to wearing. Hermione finished paying and handed him his bags."Lets get going before were late." She walked out of the store.


	4. 4

**Chapter 4**

Hermione looked around her apartment.'I can't believe this will be the last time for two whole months I won't be here.' She glanced at the pictures on the walls and took two down. The first was of her,Harry, and Ron their first year at Hogwarts, Ron and Harry were holding 'bunny ears' up behind Hermione's head. She smiled, she didn't get to see much of them anymore. Harry the great Auror and Ron taking a sybatical from the ministry after the death of his girlfriend.

She sighed and looked at the second picture,'Speaking of death', it was of her mother and father. They had been killed in the last battle along with Cherry, Ron's girlfriend. Voldemort had kidnapped them as bait and as soon as they arrived to fight him and save the people they loved he had killed them.

She remembered being in a state of utter shock while Ron was the opposite going off his rocker throwing every curse he knew at Voldemort. Harry had been there also and he shook Hermione back to her senses. She then pulled out a book from her pocket doing a quick incantation. A ward had went up around Voldemort and Harry sent a massive curse at him. That was the last time she saw her parents and Ron.

She cried herself to sleep most nights still. She shook her head to clear out the cobwebs from the old memories and put the two pictures into her bag.

Draco had come to stand next to her while in her daze. "You miss them don't you?"

She nodded not able to form words to explain how much more than just miss them she did.

She walked to stand inside the fire place and he followed her. She was still holding back tears. She wasn't going to let him see her cry.

Hermione grabbed a small pan sitting beside the fire place, the floo was sparkling as it neared eleven. The clock chimed and Hermione threw the floo down." The Chariot Express, courtesy room 28!"

Draco felt the familiar wretch in his stomach as they floo'd to the train. He would never get use to it. Seconds later they were standing in a dimly lit chamber coughing up floo and soot.

They sat down and patted the dust and soot from their clothes.Malfoy's stomach grumbled,"Well lets get something to eat shall we? I'm starving." Hermione reached over and tapped the service button. A moment later a short round woman with curly black hair came in."Hello Ms. Granger, Mr. Malfoy, my name is Hilda, how may I be of service?"

"We'd like the dinner menu." Draco shot out. Hermione took notice of his rudeness and added,"Please Hilda." Malfoy stared at her and realized what he had done."I'm sorry, please Hilda may I have a menu." He felt like a child again getting scoulded by his father for bad table manners and rolled his eyes.

They glanced over the menu. "Hmmm...a salad does sound good." Draco's eyes bugged out," A salad? Really Granger, you'd better get more than that, perhaps a nice thick steak. We won't be getting this kind of service for awhile so you should enjoy it like its practically your last meal."

She narrowed her eyes at him," I'm a vegetarian Malfoy, I don't eat meat. Killing poor defenseless creatures is horrible and health wise it is a risk."

Hilda came back in to take their order. A small notepad hovered in the air in front of her a quill postitioned and ready. Before Hermione could open her mouth Draco blurted out his order," For my appetizer I would like a small ceasar salad and bread sticks, for my entree I would like a ten ounce surloin steak, medium rare, a bake potato, lots of butter, and for dessert a large piece of warm apple pie."

"EW. Malfoy I can hear your arteries hardening as you speak. Your just as bad as Ron and Harry."

"And for you Ms. Granger,"Hilda asked."A small greek salad, house dressing on the side and a mocha latte." She said closing the menu and handing it back to Hilda. Malfoy handed his back also, turning to look at Hermione,"I'm telling you Granger a nice juicy piece of cow hide would do you good."

He watched her scurm," Oh that's so disgusting, stop I think I'll be sick." She made a face like she would gag and vomit any second and he chuckled. She leaned back against the soft bench cusion.'I wonder how long it will be until he starts pissing me off,' She thought as the train rocked along the track. After a few minutes she closed her eyes and let it lull her to sleep.

Hilda came back with their food then. Malfoy looked at her sleeping and for once didn't have the heart to wake her. He sent her tray back with Hilda until she woke. He placed a napkin on his lap and started to dig in to his meal. His mind began to wonder as he ate.

He was just about shy of nineteen now but the doctor said he was having another growth spurt. His mother was releaved to hear that his new eating habits were normal. She had thought something could be truly wrong with him.

His mother still treated him like a boy no older than ten and it had gotten worse after the death of his father. She started acting strange and started to weaken suddenly. She was always afraid she would lose him also. She began watching his every move when he was in the house, and when he wanted to leave she had to know where he was going, when he would be back, and who he would be seeing.

When he had to tell her he was going off last year to be an Auror for the ministry she had a severe breakdown. She begged and pleaded with him not to go and leave her. She kept telling him that the evil men that took his father were still out there and would come after him too. He put a full-time nurse on staff to take care of her. He couldn't do it anymore. He never came home after that. He heard that she had stopped eating and started mumbling unrecognizeable babble.

Two weeks ago he had recieved mail by owl that his mother had died. He did't even attend the funeral, or make the arrangements, he made his uncle Naticul do them. He dropped his fork on his plate trying to remember the last time he had seen her happy.

He didn't notice Hermione stir from the sound.


	5. 5

**Chapter 5**

"Draco?"

He snapped back from his thoughts and retrieved his fork ignoring her and continued eating. She noticed her food was missing and hit the service button. Hilda came in seeing her awake and instantly her food flew in the room.

"Thank you." Hilda nodded,"The train will be at your destination in approximately 20 minutes." With that she turned on her heel and left, closing the door behind her. She watched as he devoured his steak, and grimaced.

They ate silently, Hermione not looking up until he was done eating the meat. She noticed his eyes weren't exactly focused. The light seemed to be on but with no one home.

"Draco?" She tried to gain his attention again but he was lost in his thoughts again. The twenty minutes seemed to go on forever when they felt the train stop. Draco stood up and walked off the train while Hermione followed him."So where to?"

Draco looked around,"This place is so run down I wonder if there are even any good Inn's to stay at." Hermione laughed,"There are no Inn's here Malfoy, only campgrounds, which is where we are going to walk to right now." She started walking down a long path to his left.

"Walk?"He sneered at the thought."Why can't we just apparate there?" Hermione looked at him with a,'Your a stupid ninny' look,"Oh do you know the area Malfoy, have you been here before?"She asked him smuggly."No I haven't, you know that, so what are you getting at?" He crossed his arms waiting for an answer.

"YOU of all people should know that one can not apparate somewhere they have never been! It would risk the mistake of apparating on top of someone or something."She stated matter-of-factly.

"Besides we are in a muggle territory and if you just popped out of know where in front of someone you might go and get yourself killed. Remember they don't use magic here, they use guns." She said with a worried look.

He groaned," I knew I should have pushed for reassignment, what have I got myself into."

Hermione, not wanting to hear his whining, had already started walking away from him. He hurried to catch her." And at this campsite where do you plan on us sleeping?"

"On the ground of course, that's what camping entales does it not?" She said with a smirk.

"You expect me, a MALFOY, to sleep on the ground? I think you've gone barmy Granger."

She rolled her eyes and continued on, a mile later they saw a large fire in a clearing. People were laying near the fire to stay warm. Most of which didn't have blankets or sleeping bags they were just huddle together.

Draco took the sight in and whispered to Hermione,"Granger there filthy! We can't be associated with these lowly lifeforms!"

Hermione turned to face him her nose almost touching his,"You are the only lowly lifeform I see here Malfoy, so belt up!"

He was about to tell her off when a man from the campsite came near. "Hola! Buenos Noches, Como estas ustedes?" He asked Draco and extend his hand to shake.

Draco looked at him dumbfounded,"Huh?" He backed away from the old man. Hermione jumped forward and shook the mans hand. "Buenos Noches, bien, y tu?" She asked.

"Ah bien gracias senora." He said.

"Podemos acampar nosotros aqui por la noche?"

"Si, senora."Hermione saw that Draco was still at a lost and nodded in his direction and pointed out the language barrier."Habla Ingles?"

"Yes of course, welcome to the South American rainforest.My name is Hernando. I take it you are not from around here?"

"Your correct sir, we are from Europe. My name is Hermione and this is Draco.We are researchers with a private research group. We are here to study the sporatic (sp?) weather patterns." She said, clearly having practiced the lie.

Draco's eyebrow raised as he listened to her straight lie to the man.'I would never think Miss goody two shoes would do such a thing'. He yawned drawing attention to himself. "I believe its late should we retire now?"

Hernando nodded," It is, and with your line of work you will probably be very busy tomorrow and will need a good nights rest. Espero que usted duerma bien." With that he walked back to his campmates. Hermione found a small corner to the left unoccupied. She walked over and said a few words setting a spell. She opened her magic bag and pulled out a tent.

Draco stood watching her not offering to help. She figured as much.'He'll just complain about being a Malfoy and not a servant or something and I don't need that.' She finished the tent by herself. She set another spell on the tent and stooped inside.

He followed her inside and what was bestowed upon his eyes made him gasp."What in the name of Merlin?" Hermione popped her head out of a door on the 'wall'. " Did you really think I would make us sleep on the ground Malfoy? We learned magic for the sol purpose of practicing it did we not?"

He looked around the 'tent' he had walked into. It was not like any tent he had ever seen before. There was a whole bedroom before his very eyes. To his right must have been a bathroom where Hermione had disappeared because he heard water running. She was in the shower. In front of him lay a king size bed with two small tables on either side. There was even an enchanted window that displayed the darkness of the night surrounding them.

He went to the bed and pulled over her bag, he opened it and took out some night clothes. "Women and purses...if muggle women knew about this magic bag a riot would ensue." The bag was made to carry thirty times its actual size, you could fit a horse in it if you could get it in the opening of the bag.

He undressed listening carefully that the water didn't stop. He got on a pair of loose boxer shorts and waited for her to emerge.

Hermione turned off the water, the hot water raining down on her neck had felt so good. It helped release the built up tension of the day. She opened the curtain and began towel drying herself. She cursed herself, she had forgotten her clothes in the other room and her wand was out there too. She carefully stepped out of the tub wrapping the towel snuggly around her form and opened the door.


	6. 6

**Chapter 6**

Malfoy was surveying the room with his back towards her. She noticed he was only wearing boxers and blushed. Her eyes roamed down his backside,'Nice Arse Malfoy', and down to his muscular legs.'What a wizard's robe could hide!'

Malfoy could feel he was being watched and turned around. Much to his surprise he found Hermione standing in nothing but a towel. He looked up and down, his eyes lingering at the bottom of the towel.'Oh what a tease it just covers her silky smooth thighs. Oh how I would love to touch those beautiful long legs of hers'.

She noticed he was watching her now and blushed a deeper red. "I...um...forgot to grab my clothes." She quickly grabbed her things off the bed, dropping her undergarment. Draco leaped to life and flew to pick them up.

He snickered," Black satin panties? Racy Granger, I would have never thought." Her face was about as red as a cherry as she nearly ripped her underwear out of his grasp. She darted back into the confinements of the bathroom mumbling something over her shoulder about, 'things he shouldn't be thinking,'and slammed the door shut.

About twenty or so minutes had passed and he began to think she wouldn't be coming out due to the embarrassment. Then he heard the door click. It opened slowly and she came out wearing a simple red nightgown that was not at all revealing and her wet hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. He sneered, disappointed that he would not get to peek anymore.

Hermione cleared her throat,"Now I couldn't find a spell to make twin beds but I did find one to make the largest bed available." She looked at the King size bed and nodded."I think this will do, no chance of us touching, AT ALL." She raised her eyebrows at him as if signaling him a look of ,'if you dare try anything I'll stick my wand somewhere unpleasant'.

"Good I wouldn't want to have you drooling near me."He lifted the covers and got comfortable in the bed.She hesitated a second before doing the same. She lifted a small alarm from the table and set it for the morning. She lifted her wand and pointed it to the ceiling,"lumos nighticus". Draco watched as the ceiling became a bed of stars. She turned out the light and watched the stars twinkle. A few moments later they were fast asleep.

Draco woke a couple of hours later, startled by a dream. Some monster with large hairy tentacles was choking him to death. He felt something fuzzy next to his chin and almost jumped from bed fearing it had not been a dream. He realized he couldn't move. Granger was curled up next to him, her hair loosened from its ponytail's grasp and sprawled wildly around her face.

He relaxed again and watched her chest rise and fall, she was still dead asleep. He moved a lingering piece of her hair from her face and found her lips partily open seemingly begging him to come explore their depths. He stroked her cheek with his free hand and she stirred a bit mumbling."Crookshanks leave me alone," she proceeded to swat at his hand like a fly.

'Crookshanks?' He thought for a minute and then remembered it was the name of her ugly feline friend. He glanced at the clock, only half past five, he thought about moving her and normally he would have pushed her off but her lying in his arms felt so right and so calming that he just closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Hermione woke an hour later,'oh I need the loo', she tried to move but found she was pinned down. To her surprise and mortification she noticed she was lying in Draco's arms.'How in the bloody hell did this happen?' She thought to herself and tried to slip away. Draco grunted and pulled her even closer putting his other arm around her torso blocking her getaway.

'Damn and I really have to go', she thought as she tried not to squirm. She clenched her legs together fighting the urge. She didn't want him to wake and find her in his arms. She didn't need him yelling fault at her. He would probably say she gave him some kind of mudblood cooties or something.

The alarm on the table started to bounce and ring making Draco jump and become fully alert. His eyes met Hermione's for just an instant as she jumped up shut off the alarm and ran to the bathroom.'Ah saved by the bell', she thought as she closed the door. Draco lay there putting his thoughts together. He was actually missing the feeling of her in his arms.

Hermione finished her business, combed her hair back into a ponytail, brushed her teeth and finally went out into the room. Draco was gone. She quickly changed into some jeans and a tank top and popped on her shoes. She grabbed her bag and went out the 'tent' flaps almost running into Draco's chest.

He couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye after the nights event. He just muttered a quick apology and got out of her way leaning against a tree. She produced her wand with a small flick,'Illeviate', and the tent disengaged and flew into her bag. At the same time waving her wand in the air,'Illeviate', to break the cloaking spell around the tent so the others would see more than just two sleeping figures on the ground.

Hernando noticed they were awake and motioned for them to come and eat along with the rest of the camp. They walked over and were handed bowls of fruit and porriage."Thank you", they both said and settled on a log to eat. Draco was eyeing one of the native ladies. Her hair was wrapped up in a scarf high on her head, she was wearing makeshift sandles out of wood and twine. The garb she was in wrapped loosely around her body with gaping holes in parts of it.

Draco blushed as the woman raised her arms to stretch and he caught a glimpse of what lie underneath. He turned his head away in shame. Hermione had watched the scene and noticed he had an inch of decency in him to not stare any longer. They finished eating and Hermione thanked Hernando and said farewell. It was time to start the day's journey.


	7. 7

**Chapter 7**

Once they were out of the viewing range of the camp grounds Hermione pulled out the map. Draco stepped closer to have a look himself. She pointed to a dot on the map. "That's us here and we need to be there." She pointed to another dot on the map.

"Well lets go then, the faster we get there the faster I get to go home."

"The quicker the better, that way I can get rid of you sooner." Hermione stated and glared at him.

"Oh piss off Granger, just get on with it." He bowed and moved aside," Lead on Jeeves." He snickered as she started walking off the main path and he followed.

After about hour of walking through the forest the brush and trees seemed to thicken in density. It was proving impossible to move further. "Now what do we do?" He asked as he leaned up against a tree wiping the sweat from his brow. Hermione opened her bag and retrieved a long knife from it.

"Whoa what are you going to do with that?" He asked eyeing the big machete nervously. She rolled her eyes. " You stupid prat! This is for you to cut down the shite blocking our path!" She held the knife by the blade and pointed the handle to him. " I knew that mudblood, I just meant what were YOU doing with it. You couldn't possibly be strong enough to do much good with it." He said trying to cover up his fear.

"Yeah, whatever, you were scared of little ol' me holding the big knife." She mocked him smiling.

"Shutup." He had started to cut away a path for them to continue through.

They kept silent as they trudged through the landscape. They came to a small clearing and Draco stopped." Breaktime, I'm beat." Hermione looked around and put down her bag."Yeah I guess its been a few hours now we can sit for a few." He looked at her and smirked," Oh thanks for your permission Granger, although I don't need it." He sat down on a grassy area next to a large tree, his head resting against its bark.

Hermione was referencing the map to make sure their course was still in correct heading. She glanced up to see if Draco looked ready to go. "Draco don't move." Of course the most stupidist thing to say to someone when you don't want them to go anywhere. Draco was about to tell her to shove it when he heard a long hissing sound come from above his shoulder.

He froze as he watched Hermione draw her wand. "Flingorium Reptilian!" A snake that was about as long as he was tall, flew through the air and landed in a heap at the other side of the clearing. It looked back to hiss once more but slithered on its way knowing it had lost its prey. Draco was trying to control his stomach so he wouldn't lose his breakfast. "Oh Merlin! That thing had to be at least six feet long! It was going to eat me alive!"

He had jumped from his place at the tree and started to pace back and forth in his raving. Hermione noted that even though he was quite pasty in complextion already, his color had paled to match his white blond hair. "Oh stop your bellyaching Malfoy its gone now. Shouldn't you be use to snakes? You were in Slytherin house remember?" She was stifling her laughter with a clenched jaw.

He stopped abruptly and glared at her."Yes, well, the snakes that we kept in the dungeon weren't big enough to swallow you whole! I am surprised at myself that I didn't end up pissing myself!" That was it Hermione couldn't hold it any longer and started to roll on the ground clenching her sides.Her laughter made her stomach hurt.

Draco crossed his arms across his chest as he watched her try to control her laughter. It died down to a fit of giggles every couple of minutes."Are you done?" He glared at her."It's so nice to see someone laugh at my near death experience."

Hermione pulled herself together and stood up putting the map back in her bag. "You have such a big head Malfoy. Get over yourself already! Breaks over by the way. Let's go before night hits." Hermione slung the bag over her shoulder and Draco picked up the machete as they were off again.

A few more hours had passed since the snake incident and Draco was beginning to tire again. "Can we stop yet?" He whined.Hermion sighed behind him," Your like a figety child you know that? I am half expecting you to start droning on like one on a long car ride. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" She said in a annoying mock child's voice.

He ignored her insolence and continued through the brush, cutting away at branches of tall grass. He was about to complain again when Hermione gasped. He looked towards her quickly, expecting the unexpected. She pointed up to above the grasses clearing. He followed her gaze and gasped as well. "Holy shite." He drew in a breath and let out a low whistle.

They pushed through the remaining tall grass and looked at what lay before them. The temple was monumental in size. It had to be as large as a football field. Large colums stood everywhere, though some had fallen over and were littering the ground with broken stone. Hermione inched forward wand in hand ready for anything. Draco drew his as well and kept the knife in a hearty grasp.

They came to a set of stairs that led up to the temple. A statue of a man stared down at them from above. "Oh my Merlin! Do you know who that is!" She stared at Draco searching to for an answer but didn't wait for it. " That's him! That's Mars! That's the God of War!" Draco backed away from her flailing arms. Her wild tantrum scary the sheezies out of him."Um, can you calm down a bit Granger. I mean I understand this is like your passion and all but I would like to refrain from losing an eye."

She finally realized that she was acting like a ninny and composed herself. Draco sighed a breath of relief only to watch her speed up the stairs in the blink of an eye. He rolled his eyes and ascended the staircase. She was staring face to face with the statue. She reached up to touch its cheek,"Wow this looks so lifelike. Its almost as if a human body turned to stone. A great master must of carved this likeness."

Draco was studying her eyes. They were sparkling with girlish delight. He almost smiled but instead scowled.'What the hell am I doing admiring her eyes?' He forgot about the statue and Hermione and moved towards what he believed were the doors to the temple. He stared at the massive doors in front of him. There were intricate symbols and designs carved in the heavy stone. He had no clue what they meant or might say. " Hey Wisenheimer get a looksie over here why don't ya."

Hermione snapped out of being engrossed in the statue of Mars and advanced toward Malfoy. Draco examined her as her brows furrowed. She was obviously deep in thought he gathered.

"Quien busca el fin del principio caerá aquí." She said slowly in confusion. "What in the name of Merlin does that mean?"Draco asked dumbfounded."He who seeks the end of the beginning will fall here,"she said. It bothered her that she couldn't figure out how to interpret its meaning.

He lifted an eyebrow," And again I ask what in the hell does that mean?"

Hermione shrugged, " You should mark this day in the history books Draco. For once I have no idea." He mimed out the act of being struck in the heart. He stumbled backwards. "I think I'm having a heart attack! Did the infamous Hermione Granger, the know-it-all mudblood, just say she didn't know something?" He laughed," I have died and gone to Summerland!" If looks could kill Draco would have been lying in a bloody heap at her feet.

She tried to ignore him and went back to inspecting the door. She traced along the pattern woven throughout the stone. Celtic knots made unimaginable designs of artwork along its matter. Draco was inturn pushing at the door to see if it would budge. With no such luck he stepped back giving up to watch Hermione poke at a hole in the door. To his disbelief ,he watched as she was swallowed into the earth.


	8. 8

**Chapter 8**

Malfoy stumbled forward, falling to his knees beside the hole. "Granger! Granger! Can you hear me!" He paused for a second with his ear straining to hear something but nothing came, not a peep. Draco pulled out his wand,"Lumos Maximos!" The wand did nothing. "Lumos Maximos!" He barked out.

He shook his wand aggrivated," What's wrong with this worthless piece of wood? Damn stick!" He shoved it back in his pocket and screamed into the hole again. "Hold on Granger! I'm coming!" He looked around for something to lower himself down into the dark hole.

He noticed that Hermione's bag lay forgotten next to Mars' statue. He leaped from his place beside the hole and snatched the bag. He opened to check the contents for a possible rope and gasped. "Well blow me! Where is everything?" Draco found the items in the bag were completely missing.

"Aggghhh!" He screamed and chucked the bag down the stairs. He again scanned his surroundings to find something of use to him. "I forgot about that damn thing." His eyes caught the glimpse of the shiny blade he weilded before. It was sticking straight out of the ground where he had left it. He was like Arthur pulling the sword from the stone...well, except it was a knife and the stone was but mere dirt.

Draco turned to the forest. He had no idea where he was so he couldn't run for help. He would have apparated, but his wand seemed to have a cold. He sighed in defeat and sat back on the stairs and placed the knife down in front of him. He lay his head in his palms,"Think man, think!" He was going through his head looking for ideas.'Wish that bleeming snake were around. I'd kill it and have something to hang from.' Then the idea finally registered. He hit himself upside the head."Why didn't I think of that before!" He picked up the machete and ran to the nearest tree. It was covered in long vines!

He climbed the tree half way and lashed out at a few of the long vines. They fell to the ground and he slide carefully from the tree. He tied the vines together and went back to the top of the temple stairs. He lassoed one end around the statue of Mars and threw the remainder into the pit."Damn mudblood. I can't believe I'm doing this for a damn mudblood!" He crouched near the hole lowering his body with the help of the vine.

He reached the bottom of the pit. It had to be at least a 15 foot fall he calculated. He brought his right leg out, drawing it back and forth."Granger?Hermione?"

"Ooooohhh." Hermione groaned as Draco's foot collided with her back. "Uh, oops." He kneeled down and felt along with his hands to check out her injuries."It's so damn dark in here." He muttered as he found her leg. "Are you ok? Anything feel broken?" He ran his hands upwards checking for any possible jutting bones.

"My whole body feels...eh...broken." Her breath caught as she tried to speak. She coughed and then moaned. "Perhaps a rib then, also my head is killing me." His hands felt for her head and he drew them back as he felt something moist and sticky. "Oh EW! I have mudblood...BLOOD on me!" His nosed crinkled," I feel dirty. I need to bathe."

"Uh can you forget about the bath until we fix MY problems please?" She couldn't see him but she could guess he was glaring at her. "Where's my bag? My wand is in it and so are some first aid things."

"That bag of yours is broken! I opened it and found nothing inside. And for your wand, it probably wouldn't do any good anyway, my wand is far greater than yours and its not working." Draco brought out his wand and searched for her hand placing it in her palm. "Here you can even give it a whirl."

"Lumos Maximos!" Hermione said twirling the wand in a small circle. Draco was then surprised to see Hermione's face. The end of his wand was glowing bright. "What the...give me that!" He nabbed the wand out of her weak grip. "Lumos Maximos!" He called into the darkness. It was just that too, darkness. "Damn thing must have some sort of glitch!" He kept trying to get the wand to produce a light.

"Give it to me again, let me try it." He hmphed,"Why not, since you've touched it I have to get a new one anyways." He handed her the wand and again the small space around them was lit. Hermione was smirking with satisfacation. He scowled, "How did you manage that?" He said through clenched teeth. She shrugged, "I don't know but as long as it works, I'm keeping the wand. Now if you don't mind. Accio bag!" She pointed the wand toward the opening of her fall and watched her bag float down.

"Hmmmm... interesting." She said opening the bag. She began to pull viles from the bag and placing them next to her on the ground."Are you sure you haven't gone mad Draco? As I see, everything is in fine working order."

"Blast! Those things were not there when I looked!"

"Well if they were or were not there, I do not care as of now. Just help me damn it!" He had disregarded the fact that she was now bleeding heavily from the wound above her eye and clutching her side in pain."Oh give it here." He took a vile from her pile and applied it to the gash. In seconds the blood ceased and the opening was now healed. Only a thin line remained. He then pushed her gently back on the ground, he noticed it was harder for her to breath this way.

He started to lift up her shirt. She swatted his hands away."HEY! What do you think your doing!" He rolled his eyes," Please Granger, like you would be so lucky! I'm just trying to apply the potion to your ribs so belt up and move your hands." He pushed her hands aside and lifted her shirt up revealing a cotton white bra. "You really don't give a man anything to imagine do you Granger?" He chuckled as she blushed and turned her head away.

He applied the potion to her ribs, gently rubbing it in."OWWW! That freaking burns!" He laughed now,"Come on Granger! Buck up! Pain tells you your alive!" Her breathing was beginning to get better and he had checked the rest of her with no found injuries." I give you a clean bill of health. Now can we get out of this joint?"

He had become uneasy of the hole. It was getting dark outside and his wand didn't produce much light. "What? Scared of the dark are we?" It was Hermione's turn to chuckle. "Lumos Maximos Ahrondos!" Draco watched as the light from his wand jetted out in a stream around them. Then in one big burst a flash of light blinded him. As his eyes adjusted he found he could now see the rest of the chamber.

"Hey there's a passageway over there!" Hermione exclaimed pointing behind him. She slowly stood up, the viles back in her bag.

"What do you think your doing Granger? Your ribs are probably broken. We need to get you out of here and seek real medical attention."

"Aw how sweet, your worried about my well-being." She batted her eyelashes at him and then her face became angry. "Well SOD OFF! I don't need anything! YOU just want to get the hell out of here and get a new assignment. Well that's not happening! If I have to deal then so do you!"

She started to walk in the direction of the passage. Draco grabbed her arm preventing her from moving forward. He shook his head," If your not going to leave then I guess I have to stay. Though don't go running full steam into uncharted territory. It wouldn't be safe for either one of us. Let's just camp in here tonight and set off venturing in the morn. Ok?"

She nodded,"Ok we'll camp here. You know, I think that's actually the most intellectual thing you've said ever since I've met you Malfoy." She laughed and walked to the opposite wall from the passage. He didn't bother to say anything back, he was to tired.

Hermione set up the magic tent inside the chamber and cast a few spells around to protect them from any intruders that might happen along. She had found her own wand giving Draco back his. He just stuck it in his pocket forgetting about it, mumbling something about,'damn broken piece of shite...'

She ignored him and made way to the loo to freshen up and wash the blood from her hair. She came out awhile later with a long white nightgown on. Draco glared at it with contempt. It had a grey cat lying upside down on a pillow with the saying,"I don't do Mornings" underneath it. Seeing that his wand was not working, she took the liberty of conjuring up some food for them. Within the hour, they were clean, fed, and ready for bed. Draco lifted the covers and got in. Hermione hesitated before slipping into it herself.

Draco cringed,'She probably was remembering this morning.I knew I should of just pushed her off of me! She probably thinks I have a crush on her or something! YUCK! Like that would ever happen!' He thought as he closed his eyes trying to sleep. Though sleep didn't come right away. He sighed and turned over, laying facing Hermione. She was on her back and awake to his surprise. "Can't sleep either Malfoy?" She asked softly.

"Nope, sure can't, must be the company." He said snidely. She glared over at him and then turned to face the opposite way. " Why did it have to be YOU! It could have been so many others but they sent YOU!" She was sobbing now. She couldn't believe she was letting Malfoy, of all people, get under her skin.

He didn't know what to do. She was crying now and he was confused.' Did my comment hurt really hurt her? HA! What should I care?' But he did care, he didn't know why, but he did. He was about to apologize, for the FIRST time in his life, but she had already fallen asleep. She had rolled on her back again and he watched the rise and fall of her chest. He looked upon her face, dry tears marked her cheeks and he sighed. A conscience was the last thing in the world he needed, he couldn't help but feel guilty. He turned over and closed his eyes, trying to will himself asleep.


	9. 9

**Chapter 9**

They woke in the morning and didn't bother exchanging words. They got dressed, ate, and took down the tent. Hermione lit her wand and gave Draco the flashlight as they sauntered down the small passageway. They stopped as they came to a fork. Neither passage was lit so they had no clue which way they should go.

Hermione, like usual, had an idea, and began rifling through her bag. She emerged with a piece of parchment and a muggle pen. "We'll go down one tunnel, mark are progress on here and if it's the wrong way we can follow our map back."

Draco nodded, " Well you go on ahead then." He stepped back so she could enter one of the tunnels. She glared at him and he smiled," What? Your the one with the wand. It's only fair that you go first. Wouldn't want anything to happen to ME."

She snorted," Your suppose to be MY backup, I'M the one who's suppose to be protected!"

He smirked," Yeah, well, I didn't ask for the short end of the stick. Besides, what would the Wizardry world do without me?"

"Probably mark the day on the calendar, declare a national holiday, and celebrate for weeks." She said sarcastically and past by him going down the passage. He was still to stunned to say anything snide back so he just followed her silently fuming.

She had taken the tunnel to the left. It was a journey filled with many twists and turns. She figured they were deeper into the forest and not under the temple anymore. Finally, what seemed like ages they came to a stop. Draco was ready to take a break and then move on but he then saw what had made her stop.

"A dead end!" He screamed. He stomped the ground and sat down. He was pondering what ever made him decide to be an auror. He was busy rubbing his aching temples to notice that Hermione was no longer with him. His head bolted up,"Mudblood?"

"That is NOT the way to address me MALFOY!"

He looked around, he could hear her voice but could not see her. "What's going on GRANGER? Where are you hiding? Did you have an invisiblity cloak in that bag of yours?" He stood up and began swiping the air around him.

He heard a chuckle come from behind him. He immediately turned and found himself facing the dead end wall. "What the...?" A hand came through the mass and pulled him forward."Aggghhh!" He screamed in surprise. He was pulled into a room filled with bright light. His eyes took a minute to adjust to it.When they did he could plainly see Granger in front of him smirking.

He looked around,"Where are we?" She chuckled," Still in the same passageway. It was just an illusionary wall blocking us from moving on." She was now busy looking around and studying the walls. They had different child-like paintings on them. He noticed that the light was from old torches strewn around the room. The room was the size of her apartment, it had jutting rocks hanging from the ceiling and cobwebs in every corner. He shivered remembering the web he almost got tangled in.

"What are you looking at?" Malfoy asked her since she hadn't moved from the same spot.

"It's this drawing. It's glowing." She reached out to touch it. Malfoy jumped to her side and slapped her hand away abruptly. "Don't! You don't know if that thing is dangerous or not! Damn Granger, I thought you were the smart one here!"

She just glared at him and went back to studying the painting. It was of a small dagger, about 6 inches all together with blade and handle. She brought out her wand," Finite Incantrum." The painting of the sword shimmered brighter for a moment and then went back to its original state.

She looked at him as if for permission and he nodded," Ok, but just be ready for anything." He took a step back and watched as she placed her hand on the wall. They both gasped as the painting became blurry and Hermione grasped something round and solid. She pulled back and was in awe to find the dagger was in her hand. The painting had disappeared and Draco was still gaping.

She started to giggle and then to laugh. She started to prance around him gleefully in a little victory dance. "Ok, Ok! Enough already! Your making me dizzy!"

She stopped in front of him." Do you know what this is Malfoy?" She held the dagger up. "NO, but I bet your going to tell me." He said sarcastically.She ignored him and went on."THIS, is the cloaking device key! It's going to help us disable the wards around the clock!" She opened her bag and dropped the dagger in. She then proceeded to jump around he stared at her stoic.

"If that is quite enough Granger, can we get the hell out of here? This whole thing gives me the creeps." She sighed and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the secret wall. They followed their makeshift map back to the original passageway and then out to the room she had fallen into the day before.

"AGGHHHH! " She screamed as two figures seemingly floated down from the hole above. "Deatheaters!" Draco, out of habit, pulled out his wand,"Emulsify!" Nothing happened and Draco groaned,"Damn it! I forgot about that." Hermione realizing the situation, actually pulled him back behind her and pulled out her wand.

The two deatheaters were stalking closer. One looked female the other not human. They were wearing black hooded cloaks and she was only able to see the bottom half of their faces. The female brought out her wand."Vivani Bindoredum!" Again nothing happened. The deatheater shook her wand as Hermione called out,"Tytraceous Opticus!" The female transfigured into a pair of large eyeglasses. The other deatheater had already fled up the rope to outside.

Draco was busy rolling on the ground laughing. "Granger, when I get my magic abilities back, you have got to teach me that one!" He continued laughing until tears were streaming down his face. The large set of glasses were blinking at him. Their rims were bent as if in a scowl. Hermione sighed,"Come on Malfoy! We've got to get out of here. No telling who or what that other deatheater is going to bring back." He stopped long enough to take her hand and get help pulling himself off the ground.

He took one last look at the large glasses and gave a snort before following her up the rope. When he emerged he found Hermione pondering the map. "I think if we leave now and go East we will come to a place to camp for the night." She stated as she put up the map. Their little excursion through the tunnels had cost them most of the day and the sun was beginning to set. "Lead on." He said with a slight bow.


	10. 10

**Chapter 10**

Three hours later they came upon a fallen tree blocking their path. It was to large and thick to see over and to tall to seek passage around it easily. Hermione sighed, "Well I guess this is as good as anything." She pulled the miniature tent out of her magic bag and waved her wand around it. "Engorio!" She yelled and threw the tent in front of her as it grew to its normal state. She added a spell for the inner housing to appear and before she even had the protective wards about the camp, Draco had disappeared inside.

Hermione finished outside and after taking one last glance around she ventured inside. To her surprise, all that was to be seen of his 'highness' was his dirty clothing lining a trail to the bathroom. She could hear the water running and a soft humming coming from inside. She walked slowly to the door and placed her ear against its wooden surface.

"I'm to sexy for my body, to sexy for my body, to sexy yeah. I'm to sexy for my lips, to sexy for my lips, to sexy yeah…."

Hermione covered her mouth to keep from giggling outloud. Malfoy was singing! She rolled her eyes, 'Of course he would pick a song that idolized himself!'

Draco was washing the dirt from his hair. He was glad he had stopped putting gel in it and let it grow to shoulder length. He usually kept it held back with a black band, but it had fallen loose from his fit of laughter inside the chamber. He grimaced as the muscles in his arms tightened in pain. Hacking all of that greenery down had pushed them to their usual limits.

"Malfoy! Hurry up! I feel disgusting! I need to get in there also! I'm covered in dirt!" She banged on the door. He stopped the shower and smirked, "No normal water is going to cure that MUDBLOOD. You'll always be dirty."

On the other side of the door, Hermione stood there trying to figure out if she heard him right. She could feel a slight sting in her eyes as the comment took a shot at her heart. She fought back the tears and her face hardened. "Malfoy if you don't get out of there right now, I'll….I'll…. I'll break that damn door down!" She was about to pound on the door again when it flew open.

Her arm was raised in mid-swing. Draco was standing in the door frame stark naked! Hermione brought her arm down and used her hand to cover her eyes. "MALFOY! What in the blazes do you think you are doing! Put a towel on! Some clothes would be better!"

Draco chuckled, " I would have done the whole towel thing but it seems that there weren't any clean ones in there with me." He noticed a towel on the bed. He walked over and started drying his body and hair. He wrapped the towel around his waist and tied his hair back. " Its ok Granger, you can look now, I'm decent."

Not trusting a word that comes out of his mouth, Hermione slowly lowered her hand. When she saw that he in fact was telling the truth, she lowered it all the way and couldn't help gawking at his bare chest. The watched his chest move as he breathed. The muscles had a slight rippling affect as he exhaled.

Draco chuckled, " With all the insects around this place, I thought that you, Miss Smarty Pants, would be intelligent enough to keep your mouth closed. That is, unless you would like something to fly into that pretty little mouth of yours."

Hermione's jaw snapped shut. She hadn't realized that she had been practically drooling while looking at Malfoy. She bit her lip trying to push her unclean thoughts away but dwelling on the fact that he, Malfoy, had just given her a unusual compliment. 'Pretty? Does he really think I'm pretty?'

Draco took a sharp breath in. He was just realizing his slip. He brushed past her to grab a shirt from his side of the dresser. He was mentally smacking himself. 'Now I bet she thinks I fancy her!'

Hermione shook herself free of that un-nerving thought and it dawned on her that he had taken HER towel! "Hey! That towel was for me!"

He smirked looking down, " Oh you mean this thing? Yes I believe it is yours. Pink is not my color." He surprised her by whipping it off and holding it out to her. Hermione couldn't stop herself from letting her eyes wander lower.

"Like what you see Granger? I hear, from my many admirer's, that it is worth looking at. It seems that SIZE does matter." He snickered.

She abruptly turned around, " I don't care what your many SLUT's say and like I said before COVER YOURSELF UP!"

Draco snickered and pulled the towel around himself again. "Geez Granger, you act as if you haven't seen a willy before!" She stayed silent. He could see her body stiffen at the comment and his eyes grew wide. " You haven't have you!" He smiled, " Well at least you got to see the best one for your first time."

She turned around to face him. " I have too seen one before!"

"Books don't count Granger."

She blushed again, this time because of anger. She quickly reached forward and pulled the towel from his body and then stormed into the bathroom. She slammed the door so hard that the sound reverberated off the walls.

Draco stood there looking quite smug. "I think my beautiful body deserves an award." He walked over to the bed and began bathing himself in lotion.


	11. 11

**Chapter 11**

Hermione emerged from the bathroom an hour later. She found Draco was softly snoring on his side of the bed. She noticed that a tray of food had been left next to her side. She shrugged and began eating the warm food. _"He must have added a heating charm to it."_

She thought as she dug into the baked potato. She finished fast because she just happen to be famished.

She gingerly got in the bed trying not to wake Malfoy but after a few minutes of tossing and turning to get comfortable she turned to face open eyes. "Do you mind? I was trying to sleep here!" Malfoy said clearly irritated.

Hermione rolled her eyes," I can't help it! I am use to cuddling up next to something."

Draco snorted, " Oh so you have let Potter share your bed! Or was it Weasel?"

Hermione frowned, " Your so perverted Malfoy! I meant my CAT! He usually sleeps right next to me and I hold him. I miss him."

"Well then why did you not bring him? You seemed to bring everything else inside that bag of yours. You could have added him."

"Don't you think I thought of bringing him? It's way to dangerous for him. Especially now that we have Death Eaters hot on our tails. I thought about apparating to him and then focusing on you as an anchor to bring us back, but the Death Eaters would surely sense the riff of the apparation and find us."

"Why didn't you just set up an 'apparatus disconjunctus' ward?" Draco asked. Hermione sat straight up in bed and smacked her forehead. " Why didn't I think of that before?"

She grabbed the wand next to her and jumped out of bed. "What do you think your doing Granger?" She turned on the lamp momentarily blinding him. "I'm going to set that shield and then go get Crookshanks of course!"

"Oh no your not! I will not share my bed with a flea ridden half-breed! It's bad enough I have to deal with a dirty MUDBLOOD!"

Hermione had enough of his foul mouth. She flung herself in his direction and slapped him so hard that his head hit the bedpost. "Ow! You little…." Draco grabbed her around her waist and pulled her down. They started a wrestling match around the bed. He never got a swipe back at her. He was to busy avoiding her sharp nails and teeth.

"Let go of me this instant Malfoy! Wait until I get my wand!" She cried out. He glanced over at the floor. He was grateful that the wand was so far out of her reach. His surprise attack had caused her to drop it.

She was a friend of Ginny Weasley! He knew that the girl must have taught her that damn 'bat bogey hex' and he didn't feel like getting hit with that one again!

Hermione's strength was leaving her body. He had her pinned down by both arms an his leg was keeping hers from moving. He watched as she tried to catch her breath. Her chest slowly heaving as her breathing turned normal.

Her face was red and her hair was plastered to the bed from the sweat of their battle. She looked so damn sexy! It was in that moment he lost all control. Above them a shooting star from the enchanted ceiling crashed into another star and sent sparks flying down around them.

The kiss was so gentle that Hermione barely felt it at first. Draco waited until she responded and he deepened the kiss. He drew her closer so his bare chest was against her soft curves. She crossed her arms around his neck and ran her fingers through his hair.

Draco broke the kiss suddenly and slid off of her. He got under the blankets and turned toward the wall.

"Goodnight."

Hermione, still in shock, didn't respond. She just mimicked him by tucking herself under the covers and tried her best to sleep.

"_What just happened?" _They both thought as they drifted off into deep sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING.

Draco was the first to wake. He stretched, cat-like, and yawned. He turned on his side towards the warm body next to him. Hermione was still asleep and her back was to him. He studied the curves that lay outside of the sheet due to the clinging night gown she wore.

He uttered a sigh and Hermione turned over in her sleep to face him. He found himself watching her eyes as they fluttered around to whatever dream she was having. He reached out to brush his fingers over the soft lips that had kissed him the night before and started as her eyes flicked open revealing her glassy sleep filled eyes.

"Morning." He let his hand drop.

She rubbed her eyes with her free hand and muttered back her greeting. She opened her eyes as last nights kiss came flooding back into memory.

Draco bit his lip anticipating the questions he knew were to come from the Know-it-All.

"Why? Why did you kiss me Malfoy?"

Draco didn't know what to say. He was still replaying last nights events over and over in his mind and hadn't found an answer to save him. His Slytherin instinct was telling him to get up, avoid her at all costs, and run. All the while, Hermione's Gryffindor courage was seeping in and she continued on with her questioning.

"I…don't know what is running through your head Malfoy, but its not going to work. Whatever scheme you have brewing or whatever bets you might have made on my behalf you can stop it right now. I'm a "mud blood" , Harry Potter's best friend, and a royal pain in your arse. So tell me… what was that kiss about, because I would like to count my chickens before they hatch."

Draco's mind was at a loss for words as he took in her accusations. 'I'll show her. Malfoy's don't scheme! We manipulate to our advantage.' And at that moment, his advantage was to get this girl …no this woman…. To shut up again, just like he did last night.

He propped himself on one arm and then towered above her. Hermione's breath caught suddenly aware that she had no where to go. This kiss was unlike the other. It was hard, fierce, and hungry. Hermione made a deep noise from the back of her throat that would be a protest but Draco pushed harder against her lips until she opened her mouth willingly, submitting to the menstrations of his tongue against hers.

Only a moment gone in time, but Hermione felt as if they had been brushing against each other for hours. Her body was heated and she could feel her body come alive to the gentle caressing at her back by his strong hands. Then it was done. She whimpered as his warmth left hers and he got up to walk towards the bathroom. The questions still apparent in her eyes. The unspoken question of "Why?"

"Because I felt like it. It was an experiment really." Yeah that's it ol' man, go with the flow. "I just wanted to see how a mud blood tasted." He licked his lips seductively. "Tastes bittersweet."

He closed the door just in time. Something was heard breaking against the door. He set up a strong ward and began to clean himself vigorously. "What was I thinking? Kissing a mud blood? Have I gone mad?"

Hermione sat for a minute and pondered the Slytherin's odd behavior but decided to reflect the whole day on it. She gave herself a once over with a cleansing charm ate an apple and made her way outside to check on the wards.

Draco was dressed and coming out of the bathroom as he heard Hermione's scream. He hurried out of the tent, wand at the ready. "Granger!" He was not a foot out of the tent flap before he felt the thud to his head and then his world was black.

AN: AGAIN, I apologize for not getting to this story sooner…I have a busy life. You could always check out my profile, click on the HOMEPAGE button and join my Harry Potter Forum! Then you can pester me all you want. LOL. If you leave lots of reviews, perhaps I can be persuaded to post again next week.


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